Winter Diving in the PNW
A typical balmy PNW winter day of 43*F out and raining, we returned to the Keystone Jetty. This time on steel 95L tanks and a dry suit, we dove down to peruse the winter wildlife, look for GPO, and to just see if and what is difference during the winter months. Keystone Jetty | Whidbey Island (winter) above, also available on YouTube
The dive conditions, despite the cold and rainy weather, itself was great. Little to no current, visibility was 20ft, but the critter variety was a bit less than when we were last here. This was part of a group-dive with Anecortes Diving club, and there was probably a dozen or so of us in the water.
The wildlife was out, from lingcod to of course the giant plumose anemones on the rocks. We did end up finding a baby GPO outside of its hiding-hole, but nothing as big as when we were last diving here in the fall.
Put a Kettle On
That hot water kettle isn’t just for making coffee. Finally diving on a drysuit of my own, our gloves and hood are still wetsuit neoprene. Thick of course to keep us warm, but a trick my dive partner and I were taught by our instructor is to keep a thermous of hot water handy. It helps keep our hands and our head warm on surface interval between dives. And should a diver have an Aeropress handy, well, it doubles as a coffee maker.
Gear
New gear on the dive was the Scubapro Exodry 4.0 drysuit.
